Facebook-ANSA in election window

Journalists to interview candidates, Q & A with public

(ANSA) - Rome, February 9 - Italian voters and politicians
will engage through Facebook Live broadcasts ahead of the March
4 parliamentary elections as part of an initiative between the
popular social network and the top Italian news agency, ANSA.
Beginning next week, the interviews will be held in the
Italian headquarters of Facebook in Milan and will focus on the
main issues of the candidates' election campaigns. They will be
moderated by ANSA journalists, who will also select questions
from the public sent via the social network.
"The same principles that have inspired our work since 1945
are at the basis of the current digital flows. We will apply
them also in the Live appointments that we will hold with the
most popular social network in the world, with whom we are
please to collaborate, ahead of the upcoming parliamentary
elections," ANSA Editor-in-Chief Luigi Contu said.
"The Facebook-ANSA project will give citizens a significant
information tool at a decisive time for the political future of
the country."
"We are especially proud of the close collaboration with such
an excellent partner as ANSA, since it will enable people to
become aware of the position of different leading players on the
political scene directly through their own words and to interact
with them by asking questions and commenting on Facebook,
Facebook Italia country director Luca Colombo said.
"It is part of our continued fight against disinformation and
comes in addition to what has been announced in recent weeks,"
he said.
The Facebook Live broadcasts will be available both on the
Facebook page and on the internet site of ANSA.
It is not the only initiative that Facebook is bringing in
for the Italian elections. In late January, it announced that it
would be countering fake news and the initiatives 'Candidates'
and 'Points of View' will be launched in the coming days.
'Candidates' will help those using the social network to come
into contact with the candidates and parties in their area and
get important information on events scheduled as part of the
election campaign as well as how to vote using the new electoral
system.
'Points of View' will show the positions of the 10 parties
and political movements that surpass 1% of expected voting
preferences according to the main polls. The information will be
shown once every three days in the feed of Facebook users in
Italy or ones that have set their devices to the Italian
language.
On election day, March 4, Facebook users will see at the top
of their news feed a tool that will provide official information
on how and where to vote and will allow them to tell their
Facebook friends that they have voted.
On the night of the election, after the voting stations have
closed, the results will be posted on Facebook as they are
counted and updated.